Sunday, April 19, 2009

3. Play therapy can be a lot of fun and it doesn't have to cost a lot. Autism Games has a lot of low cost ideas at http://autismgames.googlepages.com/.

4. Evaluate relatives for the characteristics needed to help. If grandma is healthy, loving and can handle your child, you could have grandmother trained to do therapy at home. Nieces and nephews might be glad to help, with your supervision of course. You might want to pay a little, if you can. Books like "Engaging Autism" can be a place to start.

5. There are inspirational interviews with famous Temple Grandin on www.npr.com for free. Just search her name.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

I can remember, when my child was diagnosed with autism, investigating all the therapies and options available for her. And boy, were some of them expensive! I was a single mom and I had to so the best I could with what I could get. I would have loved a list like this back then. There are a lot of suspicious ‘therapies’ out there, be careful. In one treatment, that cost $5,000, you were given activities which you could have gotten from a $13 sensory integration book and a booklet of $5 scratch and sniff stickers.

Although many people with autism will need lifelong care, they can work, marry, and lead normal lives on a variety of levels. There are even people with autism who are geniuses, but have problems with sensory pain which causes outbursts. The future of your child still lays open before them!

1. Use free school resources like early intervention classes. Use the school speech therapist or any other therapist your child needs. Some people have moved because the school cannot provide the speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy which their child needs.

2. ABA can be expensive but you can do matching games on your own and add that to a school based play intervention with speech therapy. You can mix this with other free and low cost therapies. You can make your own flash cards by searching the internet. Laminate the cards for wear and tear.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The full spectrum lights seem to be helpful for people with Autism and Seasonal Affective Disorder. Some of the professionals working with the people who have autism call these lights ‘Seven Spectrum Frequency Lighting’. Unfortunately these lights are very expensive on the order of $15,000 for the set. A relatively inexpensive solution is ‘grow lights’ that would be used on a planetarium or fish tank. You might be able to buy one every so often until you had a bank of these to use in the mornings.

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About Me

I have five adult children. I also have five grandchildren and one on the way. Two of my children have Autism Spectrum Disorders. Two of my grandchildren have disabilities. I split my time between loving God and my family, autism and disability work, and selling Avon.